04 March, 2004

Potential Philanthropy

My plans for the day have been altered. I got a call from a woman about going over to fix her computer. Since it wasn't my turn in the rotation, I asked my other business partners whose it was and got no reply. So I took it. Then I get a reply from one of them saying he'd take it. And now he emails me to say he can't and no one else can so I'm gonna take it once again. I have to be there at 4 which means that my plan to see The Passion of the Christ at 1:30 is shot. I mean, I could make it but I don't want to see the film and then go yutz around with an old, ailing PC. I want to be able to leave the theater and have some time to myself so I can mull it over and think about it. Do I take film too seriously? Perhaps.

A roommate called this morning around 6:00 and left a message. I called him about 20 minutes later when I was up and slightly caffeinated. I reached him on his cell (mobile) as he was driving up to Tomah. He'd read today's paper which has the movie listings that go into effect tomorrow. Well, THE FOG OF WAR STARTS PLAYING HERE TOMORROW!!! Isn't it wonderful to have a friend who calls you during the antelucan hours to let you know about a movie which isn't even playing yet? I will spare you all a rant on the genius of Errol Morris and say that Pete's still a maroon and owes me money.

Kingdom Hospital was OK. Well, what I caught of it was, anyway. I had the television on but found other stuff to read on the Net and didn't pay strict attention to it. I'll watch it next week, I guess. The problem is that I keep comparing it to Riget when I shouldn't be doing so. The story was good but...but...it wasn't creepy like I had expected. Riget was very creepy. King did not include a driverless ambulance until the end of the second episode as near as I could tell. I always thought that King was of the "don't open the door" school of horrot. You know, keep the audience in suspense, don't show the terror directly and let their imaginations do the dirty work. But, unless he's added things unbeknownst to me, I feel he's given too much away already. The ghost of the little girl got a lot of screen time, in my opinion, which means that the creepiness quotient of the sobbing heard in the elevator is low because we know who it is already. One thing I did like was the main character and his The Singing Detective-like predicament. And I'm happy that the mentally retarded or Down's Syndrome-afflicted dishwashers were kept. I can only wonder if the birth scene will be kept or not. It certainly won't be shown as in Riget when you get to see a woman's naughty bits.

Anyway, I was expecting the worst and, in general, was pleasantly surprised. Right now, my favorite character is the security guy with the Coke bottle glasses.

Last call for free tunes. Here's what unclaimed: 2nd Set by the Allman Bros., the last Mars Volta album, a couple discs of folk music by Madison/Milwaukee musicians, a couple bluegrass albums, the "Love is Strong" CD single by the Rolling Stones, and a disc of Negro pirituals and works songs from West Virginia. I'd like to mail them tomorrow so please get any requests in to me ASAP. Otherwise, they're being donated to the library.

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